It was now really dry, how I imagine the moon to be. We had a short day time wise, arriving at camp in good time for lunch before having a restful afternoon and a very early night to prepare for the summit attempt.
We may have only covered a distance of 4.9km but the elevation gain was 751m. A short, steep burst and we would be there.
 |
| Definitely no potential toilet stops today! |
There isn't really much to say about todays climb. I was steep. It was dry. It was hard. It was good training for the summit attempt.
Again it was a really quiet route as it wasn't one of the popular routes - so the camps were quiet and there very few porters around. Jacob started leading us up and it was Deo's turn to stay behind and set the porters off for their climb up to School Hut. I preferred walking with Deo as his pace suited me much more.
 |
| In our usual formation |
 |
| Bob taking a break |
Along the route we came across the remains of a buffalo. He had apparently got lost and sat down to rest in the snow....and, well basically froze to death. This happened about 6 years ago. His body was perfectly preserved, close up you could still see his fur. It was quite sad to see him in that position, clearly just sleeping at the time. He has now become a bit of a landmark for those making their way from Third Caves to School Hut.
As we got higher we started to meet the clouds. We all commented that the clouds were getting low - it took Jacob to point out that actually they weren't, it was us that were getting high. It started to sink in then that in less than 24 hours we would be making our way to the top!
 |
| Climbing in the clouds |
Today was another quiet day, we didn't speak much on the climb - heads down. Putting one foot in front of the other. Deo caught us up in good time and again the porters came back to help with the bags. We did split up again as Jacob took the others ahead. I came in last as I was walking at a much slower pace.
 |
| Jacob at School Hut |
The camp itself was squashed in the rocks. It was a very uneven surface and had a totally different feel from the others. Maybe it was because it was the last stop. Maybe it was actually us that was different, there really was no going back now. We should have been celebrating another completed day, another milestone. But I think we all just went in to quiet panic mode and wanted to just not talk or think about the night ahead.
 |
| Camping in the clouds |
We got our usual briefing from Deo after dinner. We had had a free afternoon on camp, and although there wasn't much to do (nothing!) it was nice to get a bit of down time. We were asked to get as prepared as we could for the next morning. We were being woken up at 11pm to start the summit climb so we needed to make sure everything was ready before we went to bed. All our summit clothes out (and wearing them to sleep in!). We had been told to keep a pair of socks aside for the summit climb, so we all duly put on a fresh pair of socks - just to give our feet a little treat.
Water bottles were left out so they could be filled up in the morning. Deo would be leading the summit climb and we were taking two porters with us to carry bags and offer support as needed. With that in mind all bags had to be weighed to check the porters were able to carry them, along with their own kits, first aid kit, oxygen tank, refreshments etc etc.
As we had emptied our "big bags" of all the warm clothing that we would be wearing, much of the stuff in our "little bags" had to be transferred to the big bags for the remaining porters to get to camp. There was a lot in our small day pack bags that had to come out and be transferred.
We all ended up going to bed at 4pm as we knew we had an 11pm wake up call. I can now honestly say I have slept in the clouds.
 |
| Bob taking some time out |
 |
| All tucked up and ready for an early morning. |
No comments:
Post a Comment